"Prosperity, flourishing... it doesn't feel like a shinobi village at all. Honestly, if I didn't already know, I would've thought this was the capital of the Land of Fire."
"While it doesn't have the same population as the capital, the vibrancy, vitality, and endless momentum here far surpass even the capital."
"If this level of vitality continues, it's only a matter of time before the Hidden Leaf surpasses the Land of Fire's capital and becomes the most prosperous city in the entire shinobi world."
The Third Kazekage spoke slowly, offering extremely high praise to the current Hidden Leaf.
Hearing this, the Third Raikage nodded in deep agreement. Though he couldn't summarize things as eloquently as the Kazekage, the feeling was mutual. Everything the Kazekage said struck a chord.
However, the Third Kazekage then suddenly changed his tone: "But while this prosperity is good—in fact, it would be a boon to any daimyō, noble, or even powerful merchant—"
"This is absolutely not what a shinobi village should be."
The Third Raikage narrowed his eyes. "Why so certain?"
The Kazekage smiled. "Let my subordinate Rasa explain."
With that, he gestured for Rasa to step forward.
At once, the Cloud delegation turned their attention to Rasa. Seeing this, A—son of the Third Raikage—displayed a look of clear disgust, filled with contempt and dislike toward Rasa.
Rasa took it all in but remained unfazed. He had grown used to such looks over the past month.
All of this stemmed from a major operation to install Pakura as an undercover agent in the Hidden Leaf.
The plan had gone smoothly. Pakura had successfully infiltrated the Leaf. But because of this plan, Rasa had gained a terrible reputation—seen by many as a petty, power-hungry sleazebag.
Though publicly it was claimed Rasa sought to ally with Pakura to gain political backing and strength to rise through the ranks, the methods were so underhanded that the tag of "pervert" was also slapped on him.
But Rasa didn't care. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the Kazekage and village leadership understood as well. They praised his sacrifice, and the Fourth Kazekage position was now all but his.
With such covert merit, Rasa paid no mind to external criticism and was sincerely grateful to Sarutobi Mizuki.
After all, this mindset came from Mizuki himself. The Leaf elder had taught Rasa many things, especially the benefits of "self-defilement," which had helped immensely.
This wasn't a world influenced by Confucian morality. In the shinobi world, no one truly cared about ethics. So what if one was labeled corrupt or indecent?
If such flaws were disqualifying, then most Kage in the current shinobi world wouldn't be fit to rule.
Take Jiraiya, for example. Despite his obvious moral shortcomings, he was still considered the top candidate for the Fifth Hokage after Minato's death in the original story. Had he wanted the title, no one could have stopped him.
Of course, some still loathed Rasa. Even though A was known in certain corners of the fandom as a "new king" of... explicit material, the real A looked down on such things.
Not because of Rasa's sleaziness, but because he believed Rasa had driven out a talented kunoichi for political gain, turning her into a rogue ninja.
A believed that if it had been him, he would've never allowed something like that to happen.
In fact, in the original series, A and Minato were the only Fourth-generation Kage under whom no defecting ninja emerged.
Granted, Minato likely would have faced such a situation had he lived longer—Orochimaru, the other Hokage candidate, was bitter about being passed over.
So based on what the original story showed, A was the only one during the Fourth Kage era who maintained complete unity within his village. Had it not been for Konoha's protagonist plot armor, the Hidden Cloud under A's leadership would have become the strongest shinobi village.
That, however, was in the original. In this worldline, Rasa scoffed at A's disdain, viewing it as ignorant and naive.
Then, Rasa began his explanation—unpacking the truth behind the surface-level prosperity, revealing the decay within the Leaf: the rising bureaucratic corruption, the all-consuming greed, the ease of buying classified intel, and the village's utter lack of concern for leaking secrets.
With his insights, experience, and foresight, Rasa concluded that while the Hidden Leaf seemed vibrant, it was already rotting from within—rapidly breeding decay and corruption.
This decay mirrored that of the old nobles and daimyō. It was the inevitable outcome of economic growth and rising populations. Such changes proved that a shinobi village should never pursue economic development or massive population increases.
Finally, Rasa remarked: "The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was an unparalleled figure—a God of Shinobi. Had he wished, he could've built a city more prosperous than the capital."
"But he didn't. Why?"
"Because the First Hokage possessed unmatched wisdom and foresight. He saw the dangers ahead. He knew a shinobi village must never develop like a regular city."
"That's why he founded only a village, not a metropolis. It was to preserve the village's simplicity and population stability—to ensure Leaf shinobi would always possess the will to fight and maintain their shinobi spirit."
"But now, decades later, the Leaf has forgotten and can no longer understand the First Hokage's painstaking intentions. They lifted their development limits, ushering in a false prosperity."
"This prosperity will eventually drag the Leaf into the abyss. Just as we predicted from the beginning."
"So there's no need to be shocked by Konoha's current transformation. The more prosperous they seem, the weaker and more corrupt they truly are."
Rasa concluded confidently. Though his words would leave the actual Hashirama Senju utterly baffled and asking, "Wait, who are you talking about?", his arguments were logically sound and self-consistent.
After all, the legendary Hashirama had long since been deified beyond recognition.
By using Hashirama as an example and applying his own analytical framework to re-interpret him, Rasa led others to believe that his take made perfect sense.
To the others, Hashirama *must* have been that wise and visionary.
As a result, the Raikage and the others fell into deep thought. The more they considered Rasa's words, the more convincing they seemed. The anxiety stirred by the Leaf's transformation began to ease.
Because it all... made sense. It was a plausible explanation.
In that moment, most of their fears dissolved, and the thought that "the Leaf will rot on its own" resurfaced.
If things continued this way, this entire matter might be swept aside, and the start of the next Great Ninja War would be delayed again.
But for Black Zetsu, hiding in the shadows and eavesdropping on everything, this was absolutely unacceptable.
What Black Zetsu wanted more than anything... was for the Great Ninja War to begin immediately!
Thus, he spied on the meeting. The barrier meant nothing to him, and seeing everything clearly, he resolved to act.
He couldn't allow the Hidden Sand and Hidden Cloud to continue believing the Leaf was just heading toward self-destruction.
What he would do next was something he needed to think about carefully.
At the same time, far from the Leaf, in the Land of Roran, Orochimaru and Sasori were conducting research on the energy of the Ryūmyaku.
An unexpected incident was about to lead to a groundbreaking breakthrough.
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